Project logs

Today we spent most of the time removing the larger remaining parts and disconnecting the front forks from the rest of the bike. We started by removing the engine mounting bracket and taking lots of useful photographs of the cables as they were disconnected. This included the rear brake cable, the main electrics loom and the high voltage stuff.

The bike has roughly 20 cable retention brackets and some of the cables can only be run one way; necessitating many detailed photos. This allowed us to separate the engine from the frame for the first time, although the throttle cable was still connected to keep the throttle assembly as clean as possible. The bike has now only got the front forks and the handlebars still connected. The frames condition was closely inspected, so the appropriate fixes could be arranged. Initially we had guessed that the frame needed welding but this was not the case :)

The frame can be seen in its rusty state. Stay tuned for a much nicer paint job :)

We removed the exhaust pipe, the petrol tank, the oil reservoir and the rear wheel. The petrol and oil were drained from the tanks, but not the bike itself (still TODO). The air filter has been removed and will be cleaned in the future. By removing the back wheel we were able to access the stuck rear brake. This was caused by a lack of oil on the shaft of the brake cam, which meant that the surface had oxidised and seized beyond the cables ability to actuate. This assembly was cleaned and inspected for high spots (none found :-)) and then oiled. This made the brakes very easy to use, although further rust removal and cleaning is required.

Spent 2 hours today removing the plastic panelling from the frame of the bike.

Several pieces are damaged and will require either a lot of work or to be replaced. All of the screws have been taped into the holes that they came from which means that it will be straight forward to reassemble. More of the damage has been assessed and the decision has been made to favour the mechanical restoration at this point in the project.